In the practice of quilting, a needle is pressed through material. The needle may be pressed through the material by a thimble or other device such as shown in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,534,495. A problem which has not been addressed, however, is that of the "under finger." The under finger is the finger placed under the quilt which receives the tip of the needle as it passes through the quilt. When the quilter feels the tip of the needle on the under finger, she pushes up to cause the needle to return to the top of the quilt, at which point it is again reversed in direction. An experienced quilter may be capable of doing this several times before actually pulling the thread through the quilt. It is also important that the needle pass through the material at the proper location, and this requires that the quilter feel the tip of the needle as it begins to emerge from the material. These operations require that the tip of the needle engage the under finger of the quilter, which in turn leads to injury of the under finger.
Devices which attach to the upper finger of one sewing or quilting are known, but these cannot be used on the under finger because they do not provide adequate feeling of the tip of the needle or adequate control of the needle tip.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,191,824 (Burr) shows a device comprising a dimpled disk of nylon attached to a piece of adhesive tape for being held to the finger of one sewing. The device is designed for engaging the eye end of the needle for pushing it through material and is not capable of allowing the one sewing to "feel" the needle.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,283,888 (Scott) shows a number of disks for attachment to the finger to provide an improved coefficient of friction. A plurality of disks are provided on a sheet, and each disk comprises a piece of foam rubber having a high coefficient of friction with paper.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,985,383 (Yonkers) shows another device for providing a high coefficient of friction with material to be indexed. The material is attached to the finger by adhesive, and the material is an elastomeric material which may comprise foam or sponge rubber containing glycerin or smooth rubber stock which has been hatched.